


From Needham to the Bunker

by EliDeetz



Category: Supernatural
Genre: 13x17, Coda, Gen, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-09 03:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14708234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliDeetz/pseuds/EliDeetz
Summary: Ketch saves Gabriel and takes him to the bunker. But what happened from point A to B?





	From Needham to the Bunker

He was tired, it was somehow hard to breathe.

Had he broken a rib? Well, not  _he_  but… fucking hell, was it broken or not?

That aside, he was incredibly upset. He was furious, and felt slightly humiliated. The impontence of not being able to defend himself against Asmodeus was eating his insides. Bitterness danced with anger inside his stomach, making up a cocktail of bile, which he used to his advantage to get him out.

Despite his initial efforts of trying to prove that he was attempting to rescue him, the archangel kept flinching and jerking away from his grasp. He would try to yell and speak, even when nothing but muffled noises left his mouth.

Ketch was starting to get annoyed, but he  _had_  to free him, they’d made it so far already.  

“Move, are you expecting me to carry you?” He muttered between gritted teeth, the adrenaline of being beat up and escaping from demons making him consider the ridiculous thought.  

 _It isn’t a rescue_ , he repeated to himself, clenching his jaw and fists with anticipation, after he thought listening to Asmodeus minions somewhere nearby.  _It’s a bargaining chip._

Emotions he hadn’t allowed himself to feel since the academy, were now dancing inside his brain, igniting his nervous system in the best and worst of ways.

He was still Mr. Ketch. A cold blooded Man of Letters, who didn’t care whose life, or lives, he had to take in order to get the job done. But deep inside, he was also Arthur, a man who had to kill his closest friend to become who what was today.

Ketch saw Gabriel as leverage, to request protection in the bunker with the Winchesters. And Arthur…. Well, Arthur simply wanted to get out alive.

The exit was near, so near he could almost smell anything but rotten egg and sulfur. By now, Gabriel had relaxed enough to let Ketch guide him out of the lair, and also stopped making too many noises.

A breeze of fresh air filled his lungs once they were outside, he momentarily closed his eyes, and felt a second go by like an hour. That’s what he would do once he was out of the belly of the beast. After Kendricks, he’d learned to ground himself faster.

This time, his grounding mechanism was immediately interrupted by the bile boiling inside his stomach. Ketch took a sharp breath in before opening his eyes, and made his way towards the car, while guiding the archangel by the arm.

Gabriel freaked out once more while trying to get him inside the car, and he somehow understood. It was small, and confining, at least for someone that had been locked for  _hell-knows-how-long_.

“For heaven’s sake, just get inside,” he insisted, pushing him with a strong shove, yet careful enough not to hurt him. “I need you to move or they’re going to catch up, is that what you want?”

As expected, muffled noise and unintelligible words were the response he got, making him roll his eyes in an exasperated manner. Ketch lowered his upper body enough to look into the panicked archangel’s eyes, while grabbing him by the shoulders.

“Listen to me, you’re out. We made it through the hardest part, and we  _need_  to leave.” His tone was rough, deep, and calm all at once. Strangely, it seemed to work. Gabriel had stopped trying to move away from his grasp, and it looked like he was actually listening. “Now get inside the bloody car, or I swear I’m going to leave you here.”

His threat was a leap in the wrong direction, he realized when the, _previously_ calm, archangel began to squirm and scream again.

“Hey, hey! I won’t do it –” Ketch forced him to look at him again, his hands gripping Gabriel’s shoulders like last time. “I won’t do it, I’m sorry, okay? Can we please go?” He inquired, impatience dripping from his words like lava from an erupting volcano.

After a moment Gabriel nodded, and slowly placed his wounded feet inside the car. Ketch sighed in annoyance, and closed the door with a strong shove, making the archangel jump in response.

It promised to be a long trip.

* * *

Night caught up with them sooner than later.

So far, not a single demon had come anywhere near them. Ketch smirked to himself, and he took pride in the hex bag he’d placed inside the car for protection.

He glanced towards the man next to him on the passenger’s seat, and watched him try his best not to drift into sleep. The British Man of Letters frowned, wondering how much grace Asmodeus had taken from him.

Neither celestial beings, nor hell spawns, slept, he knew that well. So, to say he was shocked to see an Archangel of the lord struggling to stay awake, would be an understatement.

The car hit a bump along the way, startling Gabriel and making him open his eyes widely, confusion and panic clearly visible in them. His dirty, bloody hands jerked to the sides, and he began to feel the car around him.

Ketch figured he must had forgotten he’d been saved, and silently allowed him to remember what had happened a mere couple of hours ago. The archangel’s fear began to fade, as he finally turned around to see the man who saved him from being milked like a cow.

“We’re almost there, you’ll sleep after you see them, and we settle some things.” He explained, his eyes taking turns between looking at the road and the busted up man staring at him.

Gabriel frowned in response, not fully understanding  _who_  he meant by _them_. His golden eyes moved to the front, and wandered from there to all the car windows. He looked paranoid, fervently trying to find something wrong.

“No one is following us,” Ketch suddenly said, making Gabriel jump once more. His anxiety was still too high up, but it looked like he was somewhat getting used to him.

The archangel tried to say something, it sounded like a protest. “Yes, I am sure.” He replied, almost offended, incredibly sure that was what he’d asked.

He seemed to be right, once he saw Gabriel settle down and sink against his seat.

* * *

They technically didn’t _break_  into the bunker, considering he  _was_  a Men of Letters, and still had  _his own_  key from England.

“Wait here,” he instructed, making his way inside the fortress with his hands up in the air.

He walked down the metal stairs as slowly as he could, trying not to alarm the Winchesters in case they were home. Ketch peeked around the rooms he could, without adventuring too far into the bunker.

“Hello? Anyone home?” He asked, raising his voice just enough to be heard.

When he was greeted by nothing but silence, he let his hands fall down to his sides, and suddenly remembered he wasn’t alone. Ketch ran back up the stairs in two’s, finding the scared archangel hiding behind the door.

“There’s no need for that, we’re safe now.” The blue-eyed man attempted to soothe him, taking Gabriel by the arm to walk him down.

After a 26 hour drive, he’d learned how to deal with him, in order to avoid him lashing out. Ketch had to speak with a firm, yet measured tone, and always attempt to keep a minimum physical contact while doing so. Eye contact was extremely important as well, that way Gabriel could see the blue of his eyes, instead of the yellow he’d been tormented with for so long.

Ketch guided him to the closest chair, and sat him down to examine him for a moment. “How on earth did he managed this?” He asked out loud, more to himself than anyone else. Gabriel flinched at his words, blinking repeatedly as his gaze wandered around the war room.

The dried blood on Ketch’s face was starting to itch, and one of his wounds was still bleeding. He brushed the trial of blood dripping close to his eye, and made his way towards one of the bathrooms to clean himself.

Muffled noises came from Gabriel’s mouth _again_ , making Ketch turn to find him walking right behind.

“I am going to clean myself, I’ll be back.” He explained, slightly annoyed. He turned on his heels with a swift movement, not being able to ignore the steps following him on his way to the bathroom.

He left the door open, as he washed his face and tended his wounds while Gabriel stared. He figured it was better to leave him be than fight him. The last thing he needed was having him run away, after everything he’d gone through that day.

When he was done, he turned to the archangel, finding his eyes still fixed on him. He could see fear and anxiety swirling whitin amber, but it was nothing compared to when Asmodeus was taking his grace.

“Do you want to clean yourself?” He asked him, debating on whether to put away the first aid kit or not.

Silence.

“You can remove the stitches from your mouth,” Ketch suggested, taking the small scissors from the kit and offering them to the archangel.

Gabriel began to scream, visibly disturbed by the mere sight of the, not-truly-sharp, scissors. He curled up in a ball against the wall, too terrified to run away.

“Or not! Or not,” he took it back, putting the scissors away along with the kit. He kneeled in front of the screaming archangel, and tried his newly learned technique. “Nevermind, I put them away.”

The panicked whiskey-eyed man studied the hunter’s hands, making sure he wasn’t armed. After a moment, he began to calm down, breathing sharply through his nose as he did so. Ketch stood up, and offered a hand to him, which he took without much thought.

It was getting easier to deal with him.

They made his way to the library in silence, not bothering on turning up the lights once they were there.

“Just know that if you don’t take them out yourself, I am  _not_  going to do it for you. I’m not a bloody nurse,” he clarified, to which Gabriel immediately replied with rapid nods.

He was about to say something else, when he heard the door of the bunker opening with a loud sound, followed by the Winchesters voices.

“Stay here, and let me do the talking,” he ordered, pushing Gabriel into a dark corner to hide him from their view.

He simply obeyed in silence, and Ketch ignored how he’d missed the feeling of being trusted after so long…


End file.
